1997: UEA's Ben Matthews sends out an email saying that "Global warming is the most serious threat ever faced by humanity. It is potentially more dangerous than World War 2 or the cold war"

Email 2336

date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 18:50:38 +0100 (BST)
from: "B.J.Matthews" <B.J.H.Matthews@uea.ac.uk>
subject: The Drowning Village: (about global climate change negotiations)
to: titus.alexander@mcr1.poptel.org.uk

Dear Climate colleagues,
I thought you might like this story from Titus Alexander (please accept my apology if you get this message more than once)
Ben
...Global warming is the most serious threat ever faced by humanity. It is potentially more dangerous than World War 2 or the cold war. To avoid dangerous climate change, we need to devote at least as much effort to using less fossil fuels as went into defence over the past 50 years.

This story is a lose analogy of the climate change crisis and global negotiations that have continued for ten years without cutting any greenhouse gases. None of the characters represent real people, but the following may provide an insight into the compl ex issues involved.

The IPCC ("Ipsee") is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of over 2,000 scientists who have provided evidence of global warming and have warned that greenhouse gases must be cut by up to 60% to prevent dangerous climate change.